ABSTRACT
. . .Of all the plays of Chekhov, the ‘Three Sisters’ is the most accessible to us. We need not understand Imperial Russia that was to grasp its meaning, which is laid in one sentence full of ominous portent. ‘In twenty-five years,’ says one of the idling characters, ‘everyone will have to work.’ That was in 1870 - it became true in Russia exactly forty-five years later. Even Chekhov had under-estimated the lethargy of his country.
